Palestinians Rarely Heard
20 June, 2007
One day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas formed an emergency government without rival Hamas, the US and EU have decided to normalize ties with the new cabinet and resume the frozen direct aid.
Bypassing parliament, where Hamas enjoys a comfortable majority, Abbas swore in a new emergency cabinet on June 17 under West-educated economist Salam Fayyad.
The move followed a decision by Abbas to sack the three-month Hamas-led national unity government and declare emergency across the Palestinian territories poised to end its 15-month aid embargo.
The new emergency cabinet does not include any Hamas members.
In Gaza, Hamas, the leading partner in the sacked national unity government, has dismissed the new West Bank-based cabinet an "illegitimate" lackey of Israel and the United States and vowed to continue to hold on to power.
The brutal fighting between Fatah and Hamas drove the Palestinians to the brink of a civil war.
Fatah gunmen ransacked dozens of offices linked to Hamas including charities, an Islamic school and local television in the West Bank in retaliation of Hamas control of Gaza.
Here are some questions
1) How do you see Abbas’s move to sack Hams-led unity government?
2) Why America and EUare supporting Abbas?
3) Is Abbas playing in the hands of America and Israel?
4) Is this a message for Hamas and other resistance movements to end politics of ballots?
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